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John Lewis profit to breach £300m

PROFITS at the John Lewis Partnership, the department-store retailer and owner of the Waitrose supermarket chain, are tipped to smash the £300m barrier for the first time this week, when the company unveils record annual results.

The partnership's 65,000 employees are also expected to scoop the best bonuses they have enjoyed in decades, sharing in an estimated windfall of between £130m and £150m.

Staff are expected to get a bonus equivalent to about 16% of salary.

News of the bumper performance comes just days after outgoing chairman Sir Stuart Hampson waded into the debate over private equity, accusing buyout funds of jeopardising the health of the retail sector and the wider economy with a short-termist approach.

Hampson believes the stable ownership structure of the retailer - unusually it is owned by its employees - has been key to its outperformance.